Rivers.

[daveh]

Part one:

The Medway at Allington Lock, Kent, England.

Evening of 25th June 2009:






The following morning:

[SidW]

Dave, perfect

One of those buildings on the reach above the sluices has a mark for the highest recorded flood level

[julio1fer]

Awesome.

[Doug T.]

Dave,
That's awesome looking scenery, I'd love to visit there someday
Doug

[PeterW]

Thanks for posting the excellent Medway pictures, Dave. I know that area well.

But, as in most cases, the grass always seems greener on the other side of the hill. It's only when someone comes along from outside, like you from Merseyside, and takes pictures like this that you realise what picture opportunities you've got almost on your own doorstep.

When the warmer weather gets here I really must make an effort to get out and about Kent more with a camera.

PeterW

[daveh]

Thanks, all.


Peter, as you say there is a tendency not to take photos of the area you live in and know well. I have tried to buck the trend a little by taking photos in Wirral and Liverpool, especially if I know something is about to be pulled down. We were just passing through and staying the one night on the way down to Dover.

Doug, perhaps we should get together a Camera Collectors Club river/canal trip. Mickey said a while ago that he always wanted to go on the British canals. Perhaps I'll go someday: if you can't physically get over,you and Mickey can do a virtual trip.

Dave.

[Deleted]

Thought I would add to the rivers thread --a river much different than Dave's. This is the Snake River, which heads in Yellowstone Park in Wyoming, flows through Idaho, Oregon and Washington, joining the Columbia River and flowing to the sea.




The Snake at Idaho Falls in the eastern portion of the state. Shot with a film camera and badly scanned.



Shoshone Falls on The Snake. In modern times water seldom flows at this level. Actually larger than Niagara Falls when it's like this.



Shoshone Falls as it usually looks nowadays.



The Snake River Canyon near Twin Falls, Idaho.





River near Marsing, Idaho with Lizard Butte a landmark on the Oregon emigrant trail in the background.





Backwaters of Brownlee Reservoir on the Snake River above Hells Canyon--about 350 miles from Idaho Falls and still 200 miles from joining the Columbia.

[mickeyobe]

Dave,

I wish I were there.

Mickey

[mickeyobe]

Wayne,

Splendid pictures.
Incredible countryside/landscape.

Mickey

[daveh]

Wayne,I was certainly hoping to get some views from elsewhere and you haven't disappointed. Your snake river is flows into a bigger river, but it is nevertheless 1,160 miles long. Our longest, the Severn comes in a 'massive' 220 miles. The Medway is apparently 70 miles long. On your photo at the waterfalls there are several buildings. The one on the lower left would seem to be a wonderful to place to live - or is it part of a hydro-electric scheme?

Dave.

[PeterW]

Wayne,

Thanks for posting the pictures of Snake River, really impressive.

Compared with Dave's pictures of the River Medway they emphasise one of the main differences between the south-east of England and the western part of the US.

It's mainly one of scale. The western United States is so vast you could lose England in it with no difficulty.

Kent has often been called the Garden of England, and you can see why. It is all compact and well tended without taking away the natural aspects that preserve the countryside.

Centuries ago the whole of north Kent was covered with almost impenetrable forest There were only two routes through it. One was from Dover up to Canterbury and then along the south bank of the Thames through Rochester and Chaham to Dartford and London.

The other was from Folkestone through Ashford and Maidstone to join the northern route at Dartford.

These were the routes followed by the early Roman roads, later by Kent's two main railways and later still by the Motorways M2 and M20

The River Medway, running from south of Maidstone up to Rochester and Chatham was an important navigable link between the two.

Gradually man cleared the forest an turned most of the land over to agriculture leaving patches of wooded area that came to be known as woods rather than forests. Succeeding generations, including settlers from Scandinavia, northern Germany and Normandy, treated the hard-won land with respect and preserved its natural beauty, like a well-tended garden.

Land and property here is now among the highest-priced of residential areas outside London and the business areas of the big cities.

Sorry for the history lesson but I love this county.

In contrast, your pictures show the huge scope of the north-west US. Vast areas of natural wild beauty which look as if man has never made the attempt, nor had the need, to tame them.

Changing the subject, some time ago you posted a picture of rows of huge diesel locomotives stored in a yard because fall in traffic had made them redundant.

Were they ever put back into service or did they, sadly, gather rust until they were hauled off to the breaker's yards?

PeterW

[Deleted]

Dave:

I wish we had a Few English type rivers around. So peaceful.

The building in the picture of the falls is part of a hydro electric facility. There are at least eight hydroelectric dams on the Snake. They are part of an ongoing controversy as the ones on the lower portion of the river block migrating salmon from returning to spawn, Some are captured below the dams and trucked around them. There are those who want the dams removed so the fish can migrate freely. But the majority of the people who actually live in the region depend on the power generated by the dams. Trying to remove the dams also could cause silting that would be bad for the ecosystem, too. It's just too bad things weren't better thought out before the majors days were built back in the 1950s and '60s. Seem like that's the way things always go. . .hindsight is always much better than foresight.

Speaking of houses. Particularly in the Western U.S., at least 80 percent of the land is owned by the federal government and can't be used for private purposes. Almost all the land you see in these photos (except Idaho Falls) is federal property. The most avid supporters of the federal land are folks who live in the Eastern U.S. where most land is privately owned. Many people in the West resent people who don't live here controlling what can be done with the land.

W

[daveh]

Wayne,

I know it costs, but can they not put fish runs in alongside the main course/dams to let the fish get up naturally?

Your fellings about the land remind me of someone near to us who was a nurseryman (if you use that term for someone who grows flowers and plant) and wanted to sell the land for building. Several of the local got a petition up to preserve their nice field and greenhouses rather than having houses there. As Trevor said "....and these are the b*ggers who have made their money in land and property elsewhere."

Dave.

[Deleted]

Dave:

Several of the dams are simply too high for "fish ladders" and even at the lower dams that have them the fish don't seem to want to cooperate.

[daveh]

Well in that case you need better educated salmon! It's a great shame if some way round the problem can't be found.


Just to add on: I'm surprised no one has commented on the Medway's rather poor attempt at a Mississippi steam boat.